The Heron Rookery Viewing Platform

This site provides an excellent vantage point for observing an active Great Blue Heron rookery in the Columbia River Wetlands. These nests are located high in a stand of black cottonwoods approximately 3 kilometres south of Golden. The Great Blue Heron is a blue-listed species and this site allows observation of their behaviour without disturbing their nests. The rookery has an almost pre-historic feel to it, conjuring images of dinosaurs and pterodactyls.

Herons are generally not very good housekeepers, but they are excellent “green builders”: their nests are large stick platforms a metre across, lined with twigs, moss, bark strips or rushes. A 2002 survey reported 16 nesting pairs here, and you will typically see them March to July. The Columbia River Greenways Alliance is teaming up with the Ministry of Transportation, the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District, the Columbia Basin Trust, the Town of Golden and Canadian Pacific Railway to construct a viewing platform and formalise a pull-out on the old Route 95 highway right of way.

CRGA North : Confluence Park | Reflection Lake/ Mount 7 Trailhead | Heron Rookery | View All